The disaster was the second in five months to involve Boeing’s latest generation 737 aircraft.

The FAA had previously held out again suspending 737 MAX operations while many countries banned the aircraft from flying over their airspace.

In a statement, the FAA said: “The FAA is ordering the temporary grounding of Boeing 737 MAX aircraft operated by US airlines or in US territory. The agency made this decision as a result of the data gathering process and new evidence collected at the site and analysed today.

“The grounding will remain in effect pending further investigation, including examination of information from the aircraft’s flight data recorders and cockpit voice recorders.”

The decision follows closely behind the announcement by the Canadian transport minister earlier today that the MAX series would be grounded in Canada, leaving the US as the only major player in commercial aviation to have not grounded or suspended operations of the 737 MAX in its airspace.

The FAA’s decision to ground the aircraft has now effectively halted all MAX operations worldwide.